


for your heart (to break)

by stebeee



Category: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped
Genre: And just staying for the drama, Crying, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, I Tried, Jack being a supportive bro as always, M/M, Romance, Shao Fei crying, Zhao Zi trying to be helpful but also spilling all of Shao Fei's secrets, just Tang Yi being a good soon-to-be boyfriend, some made up characters - Freeform, tried for some plot in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21988606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stebeee/pseuds/stebeee
Summary: Shao Fei’s eyes are red, and fat drops of tears are falling down his cheeks.“What- Why didn’t you knock before coming in?!”All Tang Yi can see is that Shao Fei is upset, and he’s crying.“This is my house,” he ends up saying, like a fucking idiot, because Shao Fei is crying.
Relationships: Jack | Fang Liang Dian/Zhao Li An | Zhao Zi, Meng Shao Fei/Tang Yi
Comments: 20
Kudos: 613





	for your heart (to break)

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, this fic is so, so late. For headcanon anon who asked what Tang Yi would do if he sees Shao Fei crying sometime after they become ‘almost friends’. Honestly, if Shao Fei starts crying, any sane person would start pulling out knives and guns because they MUST PROTECC SHAO FEI, but Tang Yi is all reformed now, so we’ve gotta do something else for that. This was going to be a simple one but then I thought… I can’t imagine Shao Fei really crying for small things, he’s always the pillar of support ya know? So it has to be something really major for him to be crying and then this whole thing happened. Tang Yi also frowns a lot in this fic. Also I don't know how police stations and cases and investigations work. Suspension of disbelief please XD
> 
> Also for my bestie who kept going "when the hell you gonna finish the crying fic huh?!" everytime i met her in the past three months.

Meng Shao Fei is not in the best of moods today.

Tang Yi looks at Shao Fei again across the seats in his expensive car, and the police officer’s subdued mood is apparent. His eyes meet Jack’s in the rearview mirror from where Jack is in the driver’s seat, driving all of them back to the house. 

The ex-mercenary looks as confounded as he feels, then shrugs as if saying, _don’t ask me, I’ve got no idea._

Since the day he met Shao Fei, the man is all movement and noise — it’s hard to miss Shao Fei’s presence when he makes himself known, always turning up at inopportune moments, yelling his name whenever he’s given the chance and sometimes just carrying most of their conversations on his own. Even when Shao Fei is angry, he prowls around the house as if Tang Yi owes him a million bucks and then some, or confronts Tang Yi head on without any fear of retaliation.

This? Shao Fei staring quietly out the window, his hands clasped together on his laps and his expression entirely blank — this isn’t the Shao Fei he’s familiar with. And trust him, Tang Yi’s _very_ familiar with all of Shao Fei’s moods, because the man hasn’t left him alone since the day Tang Yi woke up in the hospital four years ago, filled with anguish and resentment over Boss Tang’s death.

Tang Yi wracks his brain for anything that could have happened today, but nothing comes up. Shao Fei told him this morning that he needed to clear some things back at the police station, and would meet Tang Yi and Jack back at Shi Hai Corporations once he was done. For the first time in a few weeks, Tang Yi went to work alone without Shao Fei shadowing him.

He can’t quite decide if he enjoyed or missed Shao Fei’s company.

In any case, Shao Fei turned up at his company a few hours later, but much to Tang Yi’s surprise, Shao Fei didn’t head straight up to his office. Instead, Tang Yi and Jack found Shao Fei waiting outside the building lobby on the first floor later, staring into space.

Shao Fei hasn’t said a word since getting into the car.

“What’s wrong?” Tang Yi finally asks, curious.

Shao Fei jolts, startled at the question. He turns to Tang Yi, and it’s obvious even to Jack that the smile he musters up next is forced, as he answers, “No- Nothing. I’m just tired.”

“If you’re tired,” Tang Yi finds himself saying next, “Then take a good rest when we get back.”

Shao Fei nods, then resumes his stare out of the window.

Tang Yi and Jack exchange another look. Something is definitely up, but if Shao Fei doesn’t want to share, well… Tang Yi can’t force the man to talk, can he?

Later, after a quiet dinner between them, Shao Fei retreats into his room without another word after washing the dishes. The silence is rather disconcerting, and that irritates Tang Yi. He doesn’t understand how he has gotten used to Shao Fei’s chatter and presence in a short few weeks. Shouldn’t he be glad that peace in his house has resumed?

“Maybe he’s really just tired, boss,” Jack comments, seeing Tang Yi’s long frown and the man’s eyes still trained on the stairs leading to the second floor.

Tang Yi shoots Jack a warning look, and the man backs off with a smile, putting both of his hands up in surrender.

===

_Maybe he really is tired_ , Tang Yi thinks to himself as he exits the bathroom his hair still damp from the shower. It’s not any of his business, and if Shao Fei decides he doesn’t want to say anything, then it’s hardly his place to press the man for answers. Why should he worry about it?

Satisfied with his own reasoning, Tang Yi slides under the covers and picks up the book lying on the bedside table, intent on continuing his nightly routine of before-sleep leisure reading. 

He barely reads a sentence before thinking, _what if something happened at the station today?_

Tang Yi catches himself, then shakes his head as if to get rid of unnecessary thoughts, and forces himself to read the sentence again.

_Maybe he’s not feeling well?_

The thought rises unbidden, and Tang Yi glares at the book, as if it’s the book’s fault his thoughts are straying back to the police officer staying in the room opposite his.

The next thing he knows, Tang Yi’s throwing the book down onto his bed and heading straight for the door.

He’ll just take a _single_ look, he thinks to himself as he stalks over to the guest room where Shao Fei is staying in. The man is probably fine, so Tang Yi doesn’t understand why he’s so irritated, so concerned. Shao Fei’s door is slightly ajar, light from inside the room spilling out into the dark hallway. If his room door is open, then everything is fine.

A little relieved, Tang Yi is about to turn and head back to his own room, feeling like a colossal idiot, when he hears the first sniffle. Then a second, and then a third.

There are _sniffles_ coming from the other side of the ajar door. Tang Yi frowns. Surely he heard wrong, because it sounds like someone is… crying. Unable to help himself, Tang Yi finds himself moving forward, and his hand is pushing the door open before he can think twice about it.

Shao Fei is seated on the bed with his back facing Tang Yi, and he jumps when he hears the door open, turning around.

Tang Yi freezes.

Shao Fei’s eyes are red, and fat drops of tears are falling down his cheeks.

“What- Why didn’t you knock before coming in?!”

All Tang Yi can see is that Shao Fei is _upset,_ and he’s crying.

“This is my house,” he ends up saying, like a fucking _idiot,_ because-

Did he mention that Shao Fei is _crying?_

He knows it’s the wrong thing to say the next moment, because the anger on Shao Fei’s face disappears. Instead, hurt flashes quickly behind his eyes as his expression just crumples. 

“I-“ Tang Yi swallows with difficulty. Shaking his head, he forces himself to concentrate. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s none of your business,” Shao Fei snaps.

For the second time in his entire life, Tang Yi finds himself being shoved unceremoniously out of the door, in his own house. Shao Fei’s door slams loudly behind him.

Tang Yi stares at the closed door for a while longer.

Shao Fei is _crying._

With another frown, Tang Yi turns on his heels and heads down the stairs, rather than going back to his own room. He’s back at Shao Fei’s door a few minutes later, and this time, he knocks. 

There’s no answer the first time he does that, so Tang Yi tries again.

“Meng Shao Fei,” he calls, rapping his knuckles against the wood twice.

He hears heavy footsteps approach. The door swings open the next moment, revealing Shao Fei on the other side and the scowl on the man’s face was akin to the snarl of a tiger. “What do you want-“

Tang Yi holds out the cup of hot, steaming tea in his hand, and the words die in Shao Fei’s throat as he stares at the offering with wide eyes. One would think Tang Yi came up with a knife rather than a cup of tea, with Shao Fei’s reaction.

“It’s honey with lemon,” Tang Yi says, pushing the cup closer to Shao Fei. 

Shao Fei looks from the tea to Tang Yi. Seeing that Tang Yi really isn’t going to say anything else, Shao Fei reaches for the cup hesitantly with both hands. His nose is stuffy and his throat isn’t faring any better from all the crying, so the drink is exactly what he needs. And with the warmth seeping from the cup to his hands, and to the rest of him, Shao Fei feels a little less angry, a little less upset, and the pain that stabbed at him earlier at Tang Yi’s callous reply ebbs away.

“Thank you,” Shao Fei says, his eyes darting up.

They stare at each other in the doorway, not saying anything else.

Finally, Tang Yi nods, “Rest early.”

“Mnn,” Shao Fei hums in response. “Good night.”

Neither of them get much sleep that night, lying awake in bed for different reasons.

The next morning, both Tang Yi and Shao Fei are awake early after a sleepless night, although Tang Yi is downstairs earlier than Shao Fei is. By the time Shao Fei turns up in the kitchen, Tang Yi already has breakfast made.

It’s all of Shao Fei’s favourites — an omelette filled with ham and tomatoes, fish porridge, and toast with butter and marmalade. There’s no coke this early in the morning, but Tang Yi has a glass of chocolate milk ready for Shao Fei.

“What’s the special occasion today?” Shao Fei asks, sounding more like his usual self.

His eyes are a little puffy and the dark circles are visible. Tang Yi surmises that Shao Fei didn’t get any sleep last night.

“Nothing,” Tang Yi responds, then indicates the dining table with the plate of bread in his right hand. “Let’s eat.”

Halfway through the meal, Shao Fei begins to chatter away, asking about his schedule for the day and what they are having for lunch later. Whatever it was that happened yesterday, Shao Fei doesn’t seem to want to talk about, so Tang Yi doesn’t press.

As Shao Fei washes the dishes later, Tang Yi heads back upstairs to get changed. He passes by Shao Fei’s room, the door opened wide. Pausing in his footsteps, Tang Yi stares inside, and something he sees has him frowning in the next moment.

Entering Shao Fei’s room and heading for the study table at the far end of the room, Tang Yi sees pieces of… paper on the glass surface. Upon closer look, he realises with a start that the pieces belong to a photo. 

A photo that Tang Yi has seen a hundred, thousand times in the past four years.

Shao Fei is grinning widely from ear to ear in the photo, dressed in his uniform, and the woman next to him is Lee Li Zhen, the person who was found dead next to Boss Tang. The woman that Boss Tang had gone to meet, and Tang Yi remembers seeing her lifeless body next to Boss Tang’s before he passed out himself.

When Shao Fei began to pester and stalk him after he recovered from his near-death experience, Tang Yi remembers getting a private investigator to do a check on Shao Fei, and the results turned up this photo. 

It’s ripped into uneven pieces though, and very dirty with what looks to be muddy shoe prints and a coffee cup ring stain imprinted all over it.

Tang Yi knows exactly how much the woman means to Shao Fei. After all, it's comparable to how much Boss Tang means to Tang Yi himself. He also knows how precious this photo is to Shao Fei. It’s obvious to him that someone else did this, and deliberately.

No wonder Shao Fei is in a peculiar mood.

Frowning even harder, Tang Yi picks his phone out of his pockets, and dials the third number on his speed dial.

===

“Yeah, of course Ah Fei’s in a shitty mood,” Zhao Zi says with his mouth full, “Ah Fei came back yesterday right? And Chief Zhang happened to be in for a meeting with Boss when he arrived. Anyway, you know, Ah Fei asked Boss if he could be on Tang Yi’s protection detail in front of everyone, so the whole station knows about it.”

Jack hums to acknowledge the fact. It’s a hot day out today, but Jack can barely feel the heat in this black, leather jacket, sitting out in the open on a bench, watching Zhao Zi wolf down the bento he made for him. Seeing the shorty eating the food he makes like this makes him… satisfied, and happy, even.

“Chief Zhang knows it too, and the moment he saw Ah Fei, in front of everyone he asked if Boss was still letting Ah Fei off easy and wasting citizens’ tax money by allowing him to be on Tang Yi’s protection detail. And then he scolded Ah Fei!”

At this, Zhao Zi deflates, recalling the scene at the station yesterday. 

“I’m sure that’s not all that happened,” Jack prods, when Zhao Zi has stopped speaking for a moment too long. “You’re plenty upset too. What is it?”

Zhao Zi takes a minute longer to think about it, his eyes darting between his lunch and Jack. Loyalty to Shao Fei and the need to share what Zhao Zi saw yesterday with someone else is warring inside of the shorty, and Jack is pleased to see that Zhao Zi chooses the latter. 

“Well… you know Ah Fei, he’s pretty well-liked at the station. I mean, he pretty much runs the team as Chief’s second, because he’s good at getting things done, making sure we’re all on task and helping us out when needed. There’s just some two assholes from… from Team One. And they’ve always given Ah Fei a hard time. Ah Fei can’t exactly use his fists, you know? So he’s always just taken it. After Chief Zhang scolded Ah Fei, I think they cornered him in the toilet.”

Jack fights the urge to facepalm. This sounds more and more like something children would do in _school_ when bullying another classmate. Two grown men cornering another grown man in the bathroom? If it was up to Jack, he would take his knife out, simple as that.

“Ah Fei had Peng Jun up against the wall by his collars when I ran in to break up the fight,” Zhao Zi bites at his chopsticks, sighing. “I didn’t hear all of it, but it’s the usual. How… how Li Zhen Jie was a dirty cop, that no one would… support Ah Fei. That everyone in the police station thinks he’s a stubborn fool, and if it wasn’t for Boss’s pity that Ah Fei would’ve been fired long ago. A lot of nasty things, especially about Li Zhen Jie.”

Zhao Zi crosses his arms at the thought, his appetite all gone as he recalls what happened yesterday. “Peng Jun and Ke Wang complained to Boss and Chief Zhang after, and Ah Fei was suspended for a day. That’s not the worst part! When I brought Ah Fei out back to his desk, the photo that he keeps at the bottom of his drawers? It was on the floor, by the bin? The frame was broken, and the photo… someone tore it deliberately. Dirty shoe prints all over, and even a coffee stain!”

“It was lunch time when it happened so no one was at their desks, but I swear I saw Peng Jun and Ke Wang hanging around right before the fight broke out. I didn’t think much of it then, even though I found it strange for them to be there. Team One’s office all the way downstairs you know?”

“And then what happened?” Jack asks, although he already knows the answer to that.

Zhao Zi shrugs. “He grabbed the photo pieces and then I know that it was Peng Jun and Ke Wang who did it because they were standing near the corridors to the pantry watching Ah Fei and I clean the mess up! I was so angry too, and I actually was going to follow Ah Fei to beat them up, but then… he got a call. And he stormed off after that.”

Probably when Jack called him to let him know where they were yesterday.

“I tried to call him last night, but he didn’t pick up. Ah Fei returned my text saying that he’s fine, but… I know he’s not. Jack, did you see Ah Fei yesterday?”

Jack saw Meng Shao Fei yesterday indeed, and he thinks it’s best not to tell Zhao Zi what state of mind the man was in yesterday now, lest he runs over to the manor demanding to see Shao Fei. Part of him finds Zhao Zi’s perpetual pout cute, but another part of him can see just how troubled Zhao Zi is. 

“Hey,” Jack says, his tone soft and soothing as he reaches out to ruffle at Zhao Zi’s hair. “Meng Shao Fei is made of sterner stuff than that. He’ll be fine after a few days, and you defended him. I’m sure he’s glad that he has you. You did well, shorty.”

“Really?” Zhao Zi looks up, his expression so pitiful that Jack has to fight the urge to laugh at him, “I mean… I wasn’t able to do anything…”

“You stood in front of him against the two assholes who cornered him in the bathroom,” Jack smiles, and Zhao Zi blinks, distracted at the way that smile makes Jack seem so much more approachable, that makes Zhao Zi notice things like how beautiful his eyes are. “You did really well. And since you did well, I’ll make you your favourite beef noodles tonight for dinner, how about that?”

Finally, a wide smile breaks out across Zhao Zi’s face, and he nods enthusiastically at the promise. He digs into his bento again with renewed vigour.

Glad that Zhao Zi’s appetite has returned, Jack fires off a few messages on his phone while the shorty is distracted.

===

Getting caught by Tang Yi when he was crying is something that ranks pretty high on the list of things that mortifies him the most. Shao Fei had a pretty awful day that Wednesday after everything that happened down at the station, and having Tang Yi barge into his room after?

_Fine,_ Shao Fei thinks. It’s not his room, it’s Tang Yi’s house, and therefore the guestroom he’s staying in _is_ Tang Yi’s. Still, when Tang Yi made that remark about it being his house that night, Shao Fei’s already battered self-esteem took another hard hit. 

As if he needs another reminder that Tang Yi doesn’t even regard him as a friend. What are the odds of the man returning his feelings?

_He came back after,_ a voice in the back of his mind whispers.

His cheeks are quick to warm at the memory, of Tang Yi bringing him a cup of tea, and the next morning, cooking all his favourites for breakfast. Shao Fei didn’t even know Tang Yi knew what he liked to eat. That he even took any notice at all was a huge surprise to him.

“Senior,” Yu Qi greets, quickly running up to him as he walks into the station late in the afternoon.

It’s been two days since the entire incident and since the apology breakfast yesterday, nothing more was spoken about it. Shao Fei’s ready to leave it all behind him, although if he sees the other two again he’s going to have words with them.

“Yu Qi,” Shao Fei greets, then notices her apprehensive look, “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Yu Qi looks around her and frowns, as if considering whether or not to tell him. It is then that Shao Fei realizes how quiet everyone else at the station is being. The tension in the air is unbearably thick, and some of his colleagues who catch his eye shoot him awkward looks and smiles.

“What happened?”

It’s Shao Fei’s turn to frown now. 

Finally, Yu Qi leans upwards until her mouth is close to Shao Fei’s ear. “Senior, did you hear? Apparently…”

Looking around them again to make sure no one can hear her, Yu Qi then continues, “A pack of photos came in the mail today, and I’m talking like hundreds of photos. Of Peng Jun and Ke Wang going in and out of known prostitution houses in Wanhua District, and _worse._ Out of some of the photos, apparently some of the girls were identified as minors? The entire of Team Two is out to check them out. And the photos are of the both of them… in bed with…”

“Not only that, photos were discovered in their phones. Selfies they’d taken with the girls while they were unconscious, so there’s the consent issue here.”

Yu Qi shakes her head, unable to go on. “At best, they’re both going to be fired from the station, and in the worst case, they’re going to be charged when we can identify the girls in the photos. They’re done for, Senior. Who would have thought that they would do that? Good riddance from the station. They’re police officers!”

Hearing that, it takes a moment for Shao Fei to process it all. “Hold on, who sent the photos?”

Yu Qi shrugs. “No idea, it just turned up in a manila envelope this morning addressed to boss-“

“Ah Fei!” comes a call to the side, and they both look up to see Zhao Zi running towards them. “Ah Fei, did you hear?!”

Shao Fei stays at the station for a while longer than he intended to - he texts Tang Yi quickly, before sitting down with the rest of Team Three to be filled in on what is going on exactly in the station, and with both Peng Jun and Ke Wang. By the end of the day, both police officers are arrested under a proper investigation.

“Hmph,” Zhao Zi sniffs, crossing his arms and feeling oddly satisfied at the way karma worked. “I knew those two were up to no good. Monsters, the both of them.”

As Jun Wei and Ah Zhi take their turns to voice their opinions, Shao Fei tunes them all out, deep in his thoughts.

===

Later in the evening, Shao Fei returns to Tang Yi’s mansion. Seated in his car and parked right in the driveway behind Tang Yi’s car, he takes a moment to think it through. Everything feels a little… too coincidental, to be honest. He doesn't like Peng Jun or Ke Wang, but in all their years of working together, he never expected them to be capable of that.

_None of my business,_ he decides eventually, shaking his head.

Shao Fei walks into a house filled with a delicious aroma, and he cannot help but smile, pausing in his footsteps at the doorway to watch Tang Yi in the kitchen. The man is in a dark gray v-neck knitted sweater today and track pants, his sleeves rolled up and an apron over his neck as he moves in between the stove and counter. From the spice he can smell from where he stands, Shao Fei knows that Tang Yi has made something really spicy again, and there is definitely a huge bottle of coke in the fridge, just for him.

It takes Tang Yi a while to look up, and he raises an eyebrow when he sees Shao Fei just standing there. 

“How long are you going to keep standing there? Dinner is almost ready.”

“Hnn!” Shao Fei makes a noise of affirmation, then is running upstairs to get changed and freshen up the next second.

He almost misses it, actually.

Shao Fei doesn’t see it the first time in his haste to get downstairs. It’s only when he’s almost past the door that he remembers that he needs to charge his phone, and Shao Fei spins on his heel to head back inside to get to the table, where the charging cables are.

Then, and only then, does he see it.

For a moment, Shao Fei wonders if his eyes are playing tricks on him. Stunned, his fingers reach out and pick up the photo frame on the table top. He traces his fingers over the glass almost reverently, his eyes wide. The frame isn’t the same one he’s had for years, but the photo… the photo of him and Li Zhen Jie- it’s sitting there. Perfect, not an edge folded or damage.

_How…_

When it hits him later, Shao Fei’s knees go weak. Sitting down on the bed, he thinks through it and just... Shao Fei just _knows._ Tang Yi must have seen the damaged photo yesterday and… well, if any one else has a copy of the photo, it would be Tang Yi. Or Jack might have been able to find a copy of it. No one else would have done this.

If Shao Fei wasn’t already in love with Tang Yi, he is sure that right at this moment, he would have fallen fast and _hard_ for the man.

He doesn’t mention the photo during dinner. If Tang Yi catches Shao Fei smiling and watching him a little bit more than usual as they eat, the man makes no comment. The mood between them both is relaxed, and for the first time in days, Shao Fei feels very much at ease. 

Tang Yi catches him looking again, and smiles. “What is it?”

“Hmm,” Shao Fei shakes his head, then changes the subject easily. “Nothing. I… You’re drinking coke again.”

Tang Yi glances at glass of coke he has right next to his cup of tea. “You can’t have mine this time. I got you a huge bottle of your own.”

“I wasn’t going to snatch it from you,” Shao Fei rolls his eyes. “I’m just… I wanted to ask…”

He considers asking Tang Yi, if the photos were his doing, or Jack’s. Tang Yi is still looking at him inquisitively, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

Shao Fei gains sudden clarity then. 

_What does it matter?_

“I just thought, should we put a movie on tonight?” Shao Fei finishes. “We’ve got popcorn, right? You can pick the movie.”

Tang Yi hums, considering. “Sure. I don’t have work to finish tonight either.”

Shao Fei’s answering smile could light up a city, and if Tang Yi stares at his lips for a few seconds longer than is necessary, Shao Fei doesn’t notice. He knows that Tang Yi did it for him — the food, the photo… and whatever happened to Peng Jun and Ke Wang, if that was his doing. There is no need to ask. He’s got Li Zhen Jie’s photo back.

For the first time since he realized just how much he liked Tang Yi… he can feel some semblance of hope, that Tang Yi likes him, at least a little.

Shao Fei is very content with that for the moment. He’ll take whatever he can get and figure out how to confess his feelings to Tang Yi some other day. 

Right now, he’s happy enough to just sit here with Tang Yi like this.

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the ‘almost friends’ scene where Tang Yi gets shot at, this is also after Shao Fei has moved into Tang Yi’s house, after that hot massage and after Shao Fei realises that he likes Tang Yi!!
> 
> Also in the novel, canonically Shao Fei cries after he realises that he likes Tang Yi and thinks Tang Yi doesn’t like him back in Chapter 5.
> 
> Look for me on Tumblr: stebeee.tumblr.com <3


End file.
